Coyotes in New York City: A Bonus?

Mark Weckel Coyotes in a New York City park. Researchers declined to disclose the location but said they had cameras in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. In March 2010, a wild coyote led the police on a chase through Lower Manhattan. The vagabond was ultimately caught in a parking lot in Tribeca. It was just one of many coyotes that have wandered into the city over the years. At least four others were sighted the same year, in Harlem, near Columbia University and in Central Park. They’ve also been seen in Los Angeles, Chicago and in the Boston area. The growing presence of these top predators in New York City has piqued the interest of researchers who say that coyotes in human territory might not be such a bad thing. “What happens is that when there’s a top predator, it will help control other levels of the food chain,” said Mark Weckel , an ecologist and doctoral student at...